Cannery Row Characters: Full List & Analysis

Who drives the story

Main characters

Doc

Marine biologist running Western Biological Laboratories, based on Steinbeck's friend Ed Ricketts; he patches up the Row, lends money, and asks nothing back. He gets a party that wrecks his lab, punches Mack, goes dark, then is finally thanked properly — and washes dishes alone, content.

Appears in:: Part 1: A Poem, a Stink, a Dream; Part 2: The Palace Flophouse and a Bright Idea; Part 3: Frogs, Whiskey, and a Wrecked Lab; Part 4: The Hour of the Pearl
Themes:: Generosity without ledger; Respectability versus the Row; Plans undone; Loneliness inside community

Mack

Homeless leader, mentor, and small-time exploiter of the boys in the Palace Flophouse, based on denizen Harold Otis 'Gabe' Bicknell. His thank-you party destroys Doc's lab and earns a punch in the mouth; his meticulous second party earns forgiveness.

Appears in:: Part 2: The Palace Flophouse and a Bright Idea; Part 3: Frogs, Whiskey, and a Wrecked Lab; Part 4: The Hour of the Pearl
Themes:: Generosity without ledger; Respectability versus the Row; Plans undone

Lee Chong

Round, courteous Chinese grocer of Lee Chong's Heavenly Grocery, who extends credit to nearly everyone — including, fatally, Mack's frog scheme. He refuses the boys credit after the disaster, then contributes to the second party.

Appears in:: Part 1: A Poem, a Stink, a Dream; Part 2: The Palace Flophouse and a Bright Idea; Part 3: Frogs, Whiskey, and a Wrecked Lab; Part 4: The Hour of the Pearl
Themes:: Respectability versus the Row

Dora Flood

Orange-haired proprietor of the Bear Flag Restaurant, the Row's busiest bordello, secretly generous to charities the Red Cross won't let her touch. Her girls are invited to both parties.

Appears in:: Part 1: A Poem, a Stink, a Dream; Part 3: Frogs, Whiskey, and a Wrecked Lab; Part 4: The Hour of the Pearl
Themes:: Generosity without ledger; Respectability versus the Row

Gay

Talented mechanic with a wife who beats him and a habit of getting jailed; he fixes the Model T's broken rear axle for the frog expedition.

Appears in:: Part 2: The Palace Flophouse and a Bright Idea; Part 3: Frogs, Whiskey, and a Wrecked Lab

Also in the story

Supporting characters

Hazel

Simple-minded, strong, and good-hearted; the most prominent of Mack's boys, stuck with a girl's name from a mother too tired from child-bearing to care.

Appears in:: Part 2: The Palace Flophouse and a Bright Idea

Eddie

Mack's boy who bartends at La Ida and brings home a jug of customers' unfinished drinks — a foul mixture the boys drink anyway.

Appears in:: Part 2: The Palace Flophouse and a Bright Idea

Jones

The Flophouse's housekeeper, the one who keeps the boys' palace clean.

Appears in:: Part 2: The Palace Flophouse and a Bright Idea

Frankie

Small, slow, mentally disabled boy who does odd jobs at Doc's lab and idolizes Doc, who feeds him and keeps him on despite the trouble.

Appears in:: Part 2: The Palace Flophouse and a Bright Idea
Themes:: Loneliness inside community

Henri

Painter who builds a boat on blocks he never intends to launch, because launching would end the project; his romances end when women tire of the cramped quarters and no bathroom.

Themes:: Plans undone

How they are connected

Key relationships

Doc Mack
He gets a party that wrecks his lab, punches Mack, goes dark, then is finally thanked properly — and washes dishes alone, content.
Lee Chong Mack
Round, courteous Chinese grocer of Lee Chong's Heavenly Grocery, who extends credit to nearly everyone — including, fatally, Mack's frog scheme.
Hazel Mack
Simple-minded, strong, and good-hearted; the most prominent of Mack's boys, stuck with a girl's name from a mother too tired from child-bearing to care.
Eddie Mack
Mack's boy who bartends at La Ida and brings home a jug of customers' unfinished drinks — a foul mixture the boys drink anyway.
Frankie Doc
Small, slow, mentally disabled boy who does odd jobs at Doc's lab and idolizes Doc, who feeds him and keeps him on despite the trouble.

Go deeper

Cannery Row themes & symbols

Generosity without ledger · Respectability versus the Row · Plans undone · Loneliness inside community

Themes explained

Read the full Cannery Row summary

The full story act by act, the ending explained and a quick quiz.

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